Composite optical elements each including two or more optical components are known to date. For example, in a composite optical element including two optical components, these optical components, i.e., first and second optical components, are coupled to each other. Such composite optical elements are used in various optical systems, and can be used as lenses by forming diffraction structures in their coupling surfaces, for example.
Most of the diffraction structures formed in the coupling surfaces are grating structures each made of evenly-spaced small slits or grooves in a number of about several tens to about several hundreds per a fine spacing (about 1 mm), as disclosed in, for example, Patent Document 1. Upon incidence of light on such a diffraction structure, a diffracted luminous flux is generated in a direction determined by the pitch (spacing) between the slits or grooves and the wavelength of incident light. This diffracted luminous flux is focused on one point, thereby allowing a composite optical element having such a diffraction structure to function as a lens.
In the case of using a composite optical element as a lens, a composite optical element in which a second optical component made of resin is coupled to a first optical component made of glass is employed, for example. Such a structure achieves a diffraction efficiency of 90% or more in a wide wavelength range from h-line (404.7 nm) to C-line (656.3 nm) by utilizing a wavelength characteristic opposite to that of a general lens made of a single glass or a single resin, i.e., by utilizing a characteristic in which the refractive index increases as the wavelength increases.
Patent Document 1: Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 11-287904